FC: Supreme Court hears arguments in COPA Internet erotica case

Photos from outside the Supreme Court after oral arguments:
http://www.mccullagh.org/theme/copa-supreme-court-nov01.html

Background:

"Supreme Court sides with 1A over privacy, agrees to hear COPA"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-02048.html

"Feds appeal loss in COPA online erotica lawsuit"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-00326.html

"COPA went too far, Judge Reed ruled"
http://www.politechbot.com/p-00217.html

-Declan

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http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,48699,00.html
    High Court Focus on Kids, Web
    By Declan McCullagh (declan_at_wired.com)
    2:00 a.m. Nov. 29, 2001 PST
    WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court wondered on Wednesday whether a
    federal law designed to shield children from sexually explicit
    websites would imperil legitimate online publishers.
    The justices focused on an extraordinarily narrow point: How the Child
    Online Protection Act (COPA), which restricts erotic material that
    offends "contemporary community standards," would apply to the virtual
    communities of the Internet.
    "Doesn't any jury necessarily apply the standards of its own
    community?" asked Justice Antonin Scalia. "What does someone who was
    raised his whole life in North Carolina know about Las Vegas?"
    Other justices wondered if Congress truly intended to craft a national
    standard for smut -- or whether COPA might allow a Bible Belt
    prosecutor to shut down lurid websites located in far more permissive
    areas of the United States.
    "I have a California jury," said Justice Anthony Kennedy. "Is it
    proper or is it necessary for that jury to consider what the standards
    are in other parts of the country before it renders its verdict?"
    "Yes, that would be possible," replied Ted Olson, the solicitor
    general for the Justice Department.
    [...]
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